Hospitalizations due to falls involving a category of vehicles that includes electric scooters more than tripled in Australia over five years, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). In 2024-2025, 4,089 hospitalizations were recorded in this group, compared with 1,291 counted in 2019-2020. The hospitalization rate rose from five to 15 cases per 100,000 people.
The report, titled E-scooter and e-bike injuries and deaths in Australia: national trends and data limitations, analyzes national data from 2009-2010 to 2024-2025, but warns of an important limitation: hospital records still do not distinguish electric scooters from other means of transport included in the same category. Therefore, the numbers cannot be attributed exclusively to these vehicles.
The rise is consistent with the growing popularity of electric scooters in the country, where shared-use systems exist in several states and territories, but the data do not allow determining how much of the increase results directly from greater use. Conversely, hospitalizations for falls of non-motorized scooters decreased, from seven to five per 100,000 population in the same period. The report also identifies a trend of increasing hospitalizations in a category that includes electric bicycles, although this covers other motorized vehicles, further complicating interpretation of the results.
Young males aged 12 to 15 among the most affected
Men accounted for about two-thirds of hospitalizations for falls involving the vehicle category that includes electric scooters, in 2024-2025. The most pronounced increase occurred among boys aged 12 to 15: the hospitalization rate rose from 3.6 to 54 cases per 100,000 population between 2019-2020 and 2024-2025. In the latter year, boys in this age group were more than four times as likely to be hospitalized as girls of the same age.
Fractures were the most frequent injuries among hospitalized people after these falls. The proportion of hospitalizations involving fractures rose from 46%, in 2015-2016, to 58%, in 2024-2025. Despite the growth in cases with severe outcomes, the institute did not find clear evidence that the overall severity of injuries among hospitalized people had increased.
The impact is not limited to those who operate these vehicles. In 2024-2025, 164 pedestrian hospitalizations due to collisions with vehicles in the category that includes electric scooters were recorded, and 147 more involving the category that includes electric bicycles. In these cases too, records do not allow identifying how many accidents specifically involved each type of vehicle.
New records should improve information
The lack of specific data has hindered the assessment of risks associated with electric micromobility. According to Jacqueline Rek, AIHW spokesperson, it is increasingly important to understand safety risks as these modes of transport become more common. The official emphasizes that the results should be interpreted as trends relating to groups of vehicles, and not as an exact count of injuries caused by electric scooters or electric bicycles.
Since July 1, 2026, new national codes have been in effect that will allow clearer differentiation of injuries related to electric scooters, electric bicycles, and other electric mobility devices in future hospital records. These changes do not apply retroactively to the data analyzed in the report.
Moreover, the study covers only injuries that required hospitalization, not including people treated in emergency departments without hospitalization, in general practice consultations, or by other health professionals. It also does not present a national count of all deaths associated with these vehicles.
The institute argues that improving records will help build a stronger evidence base to understand emerging risks and guide prevention measures. Until then, the results point to a trend worthy of monitoring, but require caution in attributing hospitalizations specifically to electric scooters and electric bicycles.
